Bombardier Wins Planned Order for CSeries Jet After Delay

Bombardier Inc.’s new CSeries plane, six months behind in its development, gained a vote of confidence after an airline signed a letter of intent to buy as many as 30 of the single-aisle jets. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Bombardier Inc.’s new CSeries plane,
six months behind in its development, gained a vote of
confidence after an airline signed a letter of intent to buy as
many as 30 of the single-aisle jets.

The customer is based in the Americas and otherwise doesn’t
want to be identified, Montreal-based Bombardier said today in a
statement. The carrier plans to order 12 of the smaller CS100
models, which have a list value of about $870 million, and has
options to buy 18 more jets, Bombardier said.

An agreement with a prospective operator is a boost for
Bombardier. The model’s maiden flight was delayed last month to
June after unspecified issues with suppliers, and analysts
including National Bank Financial’s Cameron Doerksen in Montreal
had said orders would be scarce until the jet flew because the
postponement raised credibility questions about the plane.

Assembly of the first flight-test aircraft is progressing
smoothly and the wings are being joined to the fuselage at the
company’s factory in Mirabel, Quebec, Bombardier said.

The widely traded Class B shares rose 0.6 percent to C$3.57
in Toronto. The shares closed at their highest level since Nov.
6, the day before Bombardier disclosed the CSeries delay.

Bombardier had booked 138 firm orders and 214 commitments
through Sept. 30 for the CSeries, which will break the duopoly
shared by Airbus SAS and Boeing Co. when it enters service in
2014.

Today’s planned order would be in keeping with the pattern
of CSeries purchases in smaller batches than those for Airbus’s
A320 and Boeing’s 737. The larger companies’ single-aisle models
have routinely sold by the dozens or even hundreds of aircraft
at a time. Republic Airways Holdings Inc. is the biggest buyer
of the new Bombardier plane, with an order for 40.

The CSeries will feature composite materials and a fuel-efficient engine from United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt &
Whitney. The CS100 version will seat as many as 125 passengers,
and the CS300 will handle as many as 145.